MINOT, N.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul cross-country teams competed at the NSIC Championships at Souris Valley Golf Course on Saturday. 11 Golden Bear runners posted personal best times at the race.

The men took eighth out of 13 teams in the 8K race and the women placed 15th in the 6K race. Both teams matched their team finishes from last season's conference championships, despite every runner posting a personal-best or season-best mark. 

"We did better than last year almost across the board," said head coach Jonathan Breitbarth. "The other teams did better as well. Our athletes showed a lot of character in the way they competed."

Emmett Faltesek led the Golden Bear men in 24th running the race in 24:53.0 for a personal best time by 54 seconds. He improved 27 places from last year's NSIC competition. This was the second-best time in program history for a CSP men's runner.

Will Sacay placed 28th with a time of 25:10.5 for a season-best. This was Sacay's best placement of the season and he beat his previous season-best by 1:20.9. Sacay now owns the third and fourth best times at the NSIC Championships in program history after his 25:03.2 last season. 

Matt Krummel posted a career-best time of 25:20.0 to place 37th, beating his previous best time he set in 2022 by nine seconds. This was the fifth-fastest time for a CSP runner in the NSIC Championships by .7 seconds. 

Andrew Alexander beat his previous personal best by 59 seconds at 25:40.2. This finished as the ninth-best time at the NSIC Championships in program history. Ethan Blischke rounded out the top five with a personal best time of 26:24.1, beating his previous PR by 36 seconds. 

Freshman Travis Tock placed 95th running a PR of 26:30.5, a 1:00.9 improvement. Josh Krummel ran a PR of 26:45.9, beating his previous best by 72 seconds. Freshman Zay Acosta posted a personal best of 27:26.0 and Matthew Helser ran a season best of 28:20.2. 

On the women's side, Nyadio Chan crushed her previous personal best time leading the team in 100th. Chan's time of 24:19.0 in the 6K race beat her PR by 1:35.7 and her time at last year's NSIC Championships by 3:09.2. She improved 37 places from last season. 

Maddy Bryant was close behind in 102nd with a time of 24:23.1, beating her previous best this season by 1:28.2. Anna Sajdak placed 110th with a season-best time of 25:06.0, which was 47 seconds better than her time at the Lewis Crossover. Kelsey Thelen followed shortly after in 112th with a season-best time of 25:13.0, beating her previous best this season by 1:45.3. 

Elise Atkins ran a time of 27:30.0, beating her previous personal best by three minutes. Carolina Scott made her season debut running the race in 27:31.5. Stephanie De Leon ran a personal best time of 29:09.2, beating her previous best by 3:13.7. 

Augustana won both the men's and women's races, as the Viking men picked up their 14th win in the last 15 races. The women won their ninth NSIC Championship race all time.

The Golden Bear men finished with 192 placement points, which finished 12 ahead of Northern State in ninth. Augie won the race with 31 placement points with all runners finishing in the top 12. 

Augustana's Ryan Hartman won the men's race individually with a time of 23:49.4, beating the next fastest runner by 17 seconds. This was his second year in a row winning the race. UMary's Alyssa Becker placed first in the women's race with a time of 19:51.2, winning the race by 40 seconds. 

Concordia-St. Paul made the most of their time traveling to Minot interacting and playing with kids at Lewis & Clark Elementary after their post-lunch recess on Friday before the race. The team has begun integrating engagement in their overnight trips and was grateful for this opportunity to serve the Minot community. 

Helser also won the NSIC Elite 18 award as he held the highest grade point average with the most credits earned among the 13 men's cross-country schools. He became the ninth Golden Bear in program history to earn the honor. 

CSP will be in action next for the NCAA Central Region Championships on Nov. 9. This year's race is hosted by Missouri Southern in Joplin, Missouri at Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.

Men's Team

8th Place – 192 Points - Average time of 25:26 – Top 5 Spread of 74.7 seconds. 

• The team improved our team points by 12 points from last year's conference performance.
• The 192 team points is the lowest team points by the Golden Bears since the 2019 NSIC Championships.
• The team's best top-five average time of the year and it was a full 55 seconds faster than the time at Lewis.
• The team's top-five average time is the fastest ever by a CSP team improving upon the 2018 squad who ran 25:41.
• The team's Top five spread is the third beast team split at an NSIC Championship.
• The defeating of five teams ties the second-most team victories at an NSIC Championship.

Men's Individual Placers (133 runners)
24th – Emmett Faltesek – 24:53.0 – Runs a personal best and season-best time improving by 54.1 seconds on his time from the Lewis Invite. Runs the second-fastest race by a CSP runner in school history. Runs the second-fastest race by a CSP runner at the NSIC Championship. Runs the fastest 8K race by a CSP senior runner. Emmett improved by 78.8 seconds on his time at the NSIC championship from his 2023 NSIC Championship. Emmett improves by 27 places from his 2023 performance at the NSIC Championships. Emmett has improved his place at the NSIC Championships every year he has been at CSP going from 63rd place as a sophomore to 51st place his junior year.

28th – Will Sacay – 25:10.5 – Runs a new season-best time improving by 1:20.9 from his Lewis Crossover performance. Runs the fourth fastest race by a CSP runner in school history. Runs the fourth fastest race by a CSP runner at the NSIC Championships. Runs the second fastest race by a CSP junior in school history. 

37th – Matt Krummel – 25:20.0 – Runs a new personal best time improving by 9.2 seconds from his 2022 St. Cloud Bob Waxlax performance. Matt sets a new season best time improving by 30.2 seconds from his Lewis Crossover performance two weeks ago. Matt runs the second fastest race by a CSP senior in CSP history. Runs the seventh fastest race by a CSP runner in school history. Runs the fifth fastest race by a CSP runner at the NSIC Championships.  Matthew improves by three places from his 2023 NSIC Championship performance. Matt improved his best time at the NSIC Championship improving by 35.6 seconds from his 2023 NSIC Championship.

49th – Andrew Alexander – 25:40.2 – Runs a new personal best time and season best time improving by 59 seconds from his 2024 Lewis Crossover performance. Runs the sixth fastest race by a CSP junior in school history. Runs the ninth fastest race by a CSP runner at the NSIC Championships. Andrew improved by 44 places from his 2023 NSIC Championship performance. Andrew improved his best time at the NSIC Championship by 1:40.3 from his 2023 NSIC Championship.

71st – Ethan Blischke – 26:07.7 – Runs a new personal best time and season-best time improving by 52.3 seconds from his 2024 Lewis Crossover performance. Ethan improved his best time at the NSIC Championship by 1:05.2 from his 2023 NSIC Championship.

86th – Andrew Boyum – 26:24.1 – Runs a new personal best time improving by 11.6 seconds from his best time at Iowa Central. Andrew runs a new season-best time improving by 1:02.7 from his Lewis Crossover Performance.

95th – Travis Tock – 26:30.5 – Runs a new personal best and season best time improving by 1:00.9 from his performance at the Lewis Crossover.  Runs the fourth fastest race by a CSP Freshman in school history. 

101st – Josh Krummel – 26:45.9 – Runs a new personal best and season best time improving by 1:12.7 from his Lewis Crossover performance. Josh improves by 11 places from his 2023 NSIC Championship performance. Josh improves his best time at an NSIC Championship by 1:33.8 from his 2023 NSIC performance.

113th – Zay Acosta – 27:26.0 – Runs a new personal best time and season best time improving by 27.4 seconds.

122nd – Matthew Helser – 28:20.2 – Earns the prestigious NSIC Elite 18 award. Matt runs a season-best time improving by 1:49.7 seconds from his Lewis Crossover performance.
 

Women's Team
15th Place – 25:18 Top 5 Average – Top 5 split – 191 seconds – Points 436

Women's Individual Placers (144 runners)
100th – Nyadio Chan – 24:19.0 – Runs a new personal best and season best time improving by 1:35.7 from her Lewis Crossover performance. Nyadio ran her best time at an NSIC Championship improving by 3:09.2 from her 2023 NSIC Championship performance. Nyadio improved by 37 places from her 2023 NSIC Championship performance.

102nd – Maddy Bryant – 24:23.1 – Maddy runs a new season-best time improving by 1:24.6 from her Lewis Crossover Performance. 

110th – Anna Sajdak – 25:06.0 – Anna runs a new season best time improving by 47.1 seconds on her Lewis Crossover performance. 

112th – Kelsey Thelen – 25:13.0 - Kelsey runs a new season-best time improving by 1:45.3 on her Lewis Crossover performance. Kelsey runs her fast time at an NSIC Championship improving by 12.5 seconds from her 2023 NSIC Championship performance. Kelsey improves by six places on her 2023 NSIC Championship performance.

138th – Elise Atkins – 27:30.0 – Elise runs a new personal best and season best time improving by 3:00.5 from her Lewis Crossover performance.

139th – Carolina Scott – 27:31.5 – Carolina runs a new personal best and season best time improving by 1:58.2 from her 2021 Roy Griak performance. Carolina has her best time performance at an NSIC Championship improving by 2:00.4 seconds from her 2021 NSIC Championship.

144th – Stephanie De Leon – 29:09.2 – Steph sets a new personal best and season-best time improving by 3:13.7 from her 2024 Roy Griak Invitational performance.